A Swing and a Miss

Our ward had its Christmas party last week. I was so looking forward to having a picture with my kids on Santa's lap (I even put them in matching colors, you know, to make my adorable Santa photo as cute as possible) as Henry has never been brave enough to get near the bearded fellow. But we've really been coaching Henry, preparing him for the unequaled joy of whispering your innermost desires into Kris Kringle's ear, hearing the Ho Ho Ho while his belly shakes like a bowl full of jelly, etc.

So, Santa comes into the cultural hall and Henry reacts positively (meaning he didn't burst into tears and run the other way, which is practically what happened at last year's Christmas party):


We wait in line for almost 15 minutes (our ward is not that big so there must have been a few little kids with quite a long list of desired loot) and we get up to him (oh! the anticipation!) and ...



... this is as close as he would get. At least he was sort of smiling. Maybe next year he'll actually sit on his lap. Or at least not make his mom hold him.

My Funny Little Parrot

Tonight I was giving Ruby her medicine and surprisingly she took it eagerly (she must have been thirsty or something because that is RARE!). I said, "Good job Ruby!"

Henry came running over, hugs her, and says with the most dramatic exaggeration, "Oh! I'm so proud of you Ruby-doo!"

He is such a goofball. Here's the proof (as if I haven't provided enough already):

Yes, those are salad tongs. He thinks they're the greatest contraption ever.

My Guilty Christmas Pleasure

Okay, so I love this song. I admit it. Please enjoy, courtesy of the legend, the one and only, George Michael.

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful

It has been an icebox up here in the frozen land of the north. Okay, I guess it's not as bad as the Midwest is right now. Aren't you glad you don't live in the ice storm-prone Midwest? (Sorry Nikell and Cody!)

Anyhoo, we've been decorating!! I love decorating for Christmas (taking it down as an entirely different story). We actually decorated about two weeks ago but I've also been baking, much to Scott's dismay as our kitchen looks like the Midwest after a tornado (aren't you glad you don't live in the Midwest?), so I'm just now getting around to it. Here are some of the latest happenings and seasonally-appropriate decor additions:

One of my favorite decorations -- a limited edition Norman Rockwell plate given to Scott by his Grandma Mary in 1980, when he was but a wee lad.

Look what I found -- a darling little decoration left over from last year!


A few of our Nativities


The Marvelous Moose Mantle


A pleasant surprise was that Ruby was afraid of the tree. She sat on the couch for the first 20 minutes of the tree decorating (only after crying and "running" away from the tree when we got it out of the box). She's still somewhat leery of the tree. I think it's great -- her healthy fear = not having to re-decorate my tree every day when she rips everything off.


Our camera sometimes gets a little temperamental about focusing. If it doesn't feel like it, there's nothing we can do about it. And I'm okay with that. (Santa Baby, oh hurry down the chimney tonight ... with a freaking normal camera that will actually focus when you want it to. For the love!)

Here are Scrooge's (aka Tau's) thoughts on all the activity. I think they speak for themselves.

It was so fun that Henry is big enough this year to actually participate in the tradition of putting the star/angel on the tree (and don't be hatin' on my tree topper -- I've been looking for a new star but haven't found one that speaks to me).


Mele Kalikimaka everybody!

There's Something About Ruby

I don't know what it is but it seems like Ruby has been a stranger magnet lately. And I'm not talking about just any old stranger off the street. I'm talking about the "special" people. A few weeks ago, a female Wendy's employee, one of these said "special" people, came up to us and yakked our ears off about how all babies just burst into smiles when she smiles at them. Well, I guess we broke her streak because Ruby wouldn't even look at her but it didn't phase her, she just kept telling us story after story about kids beaming at her.

Then today, the white trash in me came out and we went grocery shopping at Wal-Mart and then had lunch at their McDonald's (I already said it was the white trash in me rearin' its ugly head!) and while we're sitting there minding our own business, clogging our arteries, one of their "special" clean-up employees comes up to us and launches into this crazy conversation.

She asks me if I did my Christmas shopping today. I say, "No. I've got my kids so I can't spoil the surprise, right?" So then she goes off, and she's almost worried about it, about how I need to leave the kids home TONIGHT with my husband, but maybe I can bring the baby along because she won't know, but for sure I can't bring my boy because it'll ruin his surprise, and I should come back to Wal-Mart TONIGHT to get all my shopping done, and I need to check with my husband to see if he can take my boy TONIGHT because I need to come back to Wal-Mart to do all my Christmas shopping TONIGHT.

So then she says, "So, you just grocery shopped today? Oh [looking into all the bags in my cart]! You got some new shoes?!?"

"No," I say, "they're not for me. They're for my little boy."

"Oh," she bursts, "but these aren't sneakers!"

"No," big sigh, but still trying to be super polite as I respond in between each artery-clogging bite, "they're not sneakers, they're dress shoes for him to wear to church with his Christmas outfit."

"Oh. His Christmas outfit."

"Right, his Christmas outfit."

Then she starts ooohing and aaahing over Ruby (who is still sitting in the seat of the cart, right next to me) and how cute she is and where did I get her headband and her bracelet, and look how her shoes match her outfit!, and does she like Christmas? etc. Of course Ruby is embarrassed and won't make eye contact so she's ducking her head down towards my purse and our "special" friend says, "Oh, you like your mama's purse? What's in there? Look, what's in there?"

And then she proceeds to OPEN MY PURSE and starts shuffling things around to try to grab Ruby's attention.

HOLY MOSES.

So Ruby starts going to town, pulling crap out. And as she does, our friend gets this concerned look on her face and says, "Oh here Mama. It looks like she wants this ... wait ... what is this?"

"Um ... that's lotion," I reply with an amazed look on my face as she starts handing me the stuff.

"Here, you better take this. She wants your lotion."

"Uh ... thanks."

"Oh here Mama. She wants this bag of stuff too ...... and uh-oh, here comes your wallet. You probably better hold on to that. And what's this? Oh, your checkbook. Yeah, here, take that."

And it goes on until our friend (because Ruby has lost interest in the contents of my purse) pulls out every random receipt, scrap of paper, penny, lip gloss, gum wrapper, and bouncy ball floating around in the dark crevices of my organizationally-deprived purse. And then finally, she hands me my purse and says, "Here Mama. Your baby took all the things out of your purse. You should probably put those things back in here."

"Thank you," was all I could say.